“It Was a Heck of a Ride!” – An Interview with Survivor: Fiji’s Gary

Gary seemed like a very likeable guy who wasn’t likely to fall into the trap in which many older players find themselves. Was this a thought-out position on his part? What were his plans in the game? Read on to find out.

RealityNewsOnline: First of all, how are you feeling?

Gary: Right now I’m back to normal. I had a little bout with some bug bites and had a little reaction to them, and that was the major issue.

RNO: Take us through what happened in the challenge when it looked like you were injured.

Gary: The slip-n-slide was an interesting challenge. You had to get down there and get your ball and I took a couple falls sliding down. They were kind of humorous watching them afterwards. But we managed to get through ‘em.

RNO: You had trouble breathing, you were dizzy, and your blood pressure was up. What was the diagnosis when you were taken from camp?

Gary: They did some IVs and I’m sure it was one for the bug bites that helped get rid of the reaction to them. That caused the shortness of breath. I had thousands of them – I don’t know if I laid in the wrong spot or what. Normally bugs don’t bother me at all.

RNO: How long did you need to recuperate?

Gary: It was about two days before I really got back. I was still dizzy and I still have some of bites on me. To really get rid of the spiral in the head took maybe a week, week-and-a-half before I got clear in the head.

RNO: Putting the health issues aside, what was your strategy going into the game?

Gary: My strategy going into the game was to get along with everybody and keep a low profile. I think I had that going quite well. Nobody had any real grievances. I held my own on the challenges. It was just to keep low key and slide right along with it.

RNO: What did you do, either physically or mentally, to prepare yourself for Survivor?

Gary: Physically I went to the gym for about a month-and-a-half. Being in Minnesota, we couldn’t get outside as much as we wanted to.

My one daughter told me the best thing: Just don’t jump on any soapboxes and start preaching. I don’t know if I do that with her. But most of the people I was with, they were almost the same age as my kids. It was great, I get along with my kids real well and I got along with these people real well too.

RNO: A lot of people of your age end up talking to fellow contestants like their kids, which is often not appreciated.

Gary: I cut hair for 14 years, you have to sell yourself all the time. There are a lot of ways to get people to respect you on how you treat them. You can bark orders or you can guide them and not have any issues with people.

RNO: Did you know about the solid five-way alliance in your tribe?

Gary: You know, I had rumblings of it. But the five that were involved, when push came to shove, would have crumbled like a cookie. There were a lot of strong personalities there. When you get that many strong personalities, you’ll have an issue. Maybe I’m wrong, but it’s really easy to get along when you are winning. When you start losing, they start chomping at the bit. If we’d have lost a couple along the way, that would have crumbled.

RNO: What did you intend to do in order to stay in the game in the face of such an alliance?

Gary: Just keep plugging away, hold my end up on the challenges, and just be decent to everybody. Don’t play that age card ‘cus that won’t do you any good. I was pretty tight with Cassandra, and Dreamz and I got along very well. [The others] didn’t realize we were pretty tight. We got along good because we worked together good. Dreamz could have stirred that pot pretty good [among the fivesome]. When you’re around him, you like him a lot. He tells people what he thinks of you – sometimes that would get you in trouble, but I have great respect for somebody like that.

RNO: Because you weren’t voted off, you didn’t get final words. What would you have said in your final words?

Gary: It was a great experience. I got caught on the short end of a million-dollar bug bite. If they need anybody to come back, I’d be more than willing.

RNO: Just maybe with some Off.

Gary: (Laughing) Or one of those deals you jab in your thigh. Normally I just don’t have that issue. Maybe it was a different kind of bug. I sleep outside all the time [like when going fishing]. The Minnesota mosquito is probably not as strong as the Fiji one.

RNO: How did you feel watching the show and seeing Lisi worrying only about the game as you were being carted off?

Gary: It was a little bit disheartening. I had talked to her quite a bit at camp. The one thing about he game is you play it like life. If you play it like that, then you’re that way in life. The nut don’t fall that far from the tree. It’ll all come out in the end. Whatever you do will come back and haunt you sooner or later.

RNO: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your time on Survivor?

Gary: They were great people to be around. CBS was fantastic with us. I was absolutely impressed from the get-go. It was a heck of an experience. Physically I don’t have any problems with it. The only problem was the bug bites. You see on the chariot races, I wasn’t laying on the ground. You just can’t ever give up – you just keep going at it until all resources are used. It was a heck of a ride, though, I’ll tell you that!

RNO: Thanks, Gary!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Fiji articles here on RealityNewsOnline:

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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